Do unions have time to Think Green?
I get tons of emails about companies going green, green jobs, green ways to commute, etc.
I usually just hit the delete button, but not last week when an email showed up in my mailbox about a union that was going green.
My first thought was: “why the heck is a union using it’s valuable time worrying about the environment when workers’ paychecks are declining and most working stiffs are worried about losing their jobs in this economy?”
The email was from the Service Employees International Union and it details a host of things its leadership wants to do in order to help the world become a green place.
If I had gotten the email from any other union — say the United Auto Workers, which has seen its membership decimated and its members put through the ringer — I would have gone ballistic in this blog, mocking any initiative that doesn’t help its members shore up their livelihoods.
But the SEIU, with its 1.9 million members, has actually been one of the few unions in this country that is growing.
Do they have the luxury to focus on “green” and not just wage and hour issues? I’m not sure. But I’ll give them a bit of leeway here.
Basically, they want a bit of “green” language in their local contracts for members. And some of what they propose will also help workers themselves, well, more directly than helping cut down on overall pollution for the earth.
Here is some of what the SEIU proposes:
Public transportation benefits to decrease automobile use.
Replacement of toxic cleaning supplies to protect workers, land and water.
Encouragement of daytime cleaning to reduce nighttime energy use in buildings.
Establishment of labor-management environmental committees for ongoing monitoring of environmental issues in the workplace.
All these sound reasonable, but the SEIU leadership has to convince management and their own members, that pushing these issues during contract negotiations is critical. Typically, such negotiations are contentious enough as both sides battle over money and benefits. So, adding “green” demands will probably stir up the pot even more.
“We need to do a whole education thing with our members about this,” says Gerry Hudson, SEIU’s executive vice president. “We need to do something about climate change. We can use our bargaining power to be helpful.”
The green initiative will kick off with a resolution at the SEIU’s convention in June, and Hudson is hopeful the proposal will get some momentum coming out of the convention that will lead to pilot projects after the November election.
That’s when he believes dialogue involving climate change throughout the country will “heat up.”
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:49 am
The challenge of member education and effort on “going green” is no different than the other work unions have done for a long, long time. It took effort and controversy for unions to back the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s. The same is true of educating our members of the need to invest in organizing new members into our union.
With the environment, it is clear now that if we do not become part of the solution–the economy will be unable to sustain any decent wages or benefits. As Sir Isaac Stern’s report pointed out in late 2006, we can either spend about 1% of GDP now to avert dramatic climate change, or we will suffer a 20-30% drop in GDP in about 30 years.
In essence, our unions work best when we have a vision to act upon. The green initiatives underway in our union provide that vision on a key issue facing us today.
Spending effort addressing our environmental challenges in the labor movement is not a luxury, it is a necessity for our future.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:42 am
The question isn’t if labor has a role to play in the environmental movement — or any social justice movement for that matter. The question is what role we have to play.
In the environmental movement, one glaring unfilled niche is in advocating for low-income people, particularly as comprehensive approaches to climate change are developed. Market and public policy changes can have a devastating economic impact on low-wage workers. Our members can win important raises, for example, only to see them completely wiped out by increasing energy and gasoline costs.
“Green negotiating” is one small, first step in this work—a public transportation benefit, for example, can mean $100 a month to the member. Ultimately, every part of this work means more money in our members’ pockets and better health and safety conditions for members and their families. If it didn’t mean this, SEIU wouldn’t be doing it.
But the conversation on how the Labor movement can best advocate for working people within the environmental movement is a fairly new one. So thank you, Eve, for starting this much-needed conversation on your blog.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Hi Eve,
Good question: do unions have time to Think Green?
Absolutely! Union growth is easiest in growing industries, and the “green economy” is growing fast.
* Energy-efficient building upgrades are expanding at 20 percent a year.
* The wind and solar PV industries grew at 45 percent last year.
* Energy-efficient railroads are bouncing back because of high diesel prices.
* Three big Wall Street banks recently indicated a strong preference for coal-fired power plants that capture and store their carbon emissions over conventional coal.
Trade unionists, increasingly, are coming around to the potential for “green collar jobs.” Take the UAW, which you rightly indicate should prioritize member interests. They just negotiated a provision in their contract with GM to ensure that the plug-in Volt is made in America.
No doubt, our labor law is hardly union friendly. But labor, environmentalists, and management can still find plenty of win-win opportunities to expand the green economy and create good jobs too.
Congrats to SEIU for doing its part.
Dan Seligman
Washington Director
Apollo Alliance
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
There is little doubt that the environmental issues in front of us will have real impacts on working people at their jobs and in their homes. SEIU has a large role to play in bringing our members together to play a collective role in shaping the debate. We take care of residential buildings, hospitals, office buildings - a centerpiece of many plans to save energy going forward. This will create new jobs - important jobs with new skills that we need to be ready to fill. And we don’t train ourselves to fill these jobs we will fail to meet the environmental challenges going forward adn our members will not be able to take advantage of these new jobs. And the impacts on low-paid workers will be great - the threat of new taxes and costs associated with going “Green” could too easily fall on those who consume the least and can least afford to pay.
We have a large role to play.
Manny Pastreich
SEIU
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I think there is something to be said about our failure to act coming back to haunt us. Good point Marrianne. We already are being squeezed by high prices for oil food. But I wonder how much unions can do if they don’t get management to come along. Do you all feel management will be willing to make these changes, or will they fight to keep them out of contracts?
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:58 am
SEIU is correct in addressing environmental concerns in the workplace.
If you walk into a typical cleaning supply closet you will find hundreds of chemical products-most labeled with the warning “hazardous to your health”. Cleaners and maintenance personnel have prolonged exposure to ammonia, bleach, floor strippers, paint removers and other industrial strength chemicals. Workers deserve to use products that do not jeopardize their health.
When a building “goes green” it requires a change in the operations and maintenance practices in the building, along with a change in the responsibilities of the building staff. Shaping these changes in a way that maintains staffing levels and empowers workers is a way to ensure long term job security.
Managers of green buildings have already been encouraging the use of public transportation, switching to green cleaning supplies and focusing on energy efficiency so the goals of the union and the goals of managers may not be that far apart. Approaching this issue from both sides is in the best interest of all concerned.
James Barry
Local 32BJ Thomas Shortman Fund
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:48 am
It’s a question of strategy and what you can win where. Some management would be highly motivated on the green front, others not so much. Let’s look at a couple who might be green inclined:
1. Public employers where leading public officials have made green commitments, such as the mayors of our nation’s three largest cities. In these places, negotiating green can fit in with larger, prominantly stated public policy goals. It’s a win-win.
2. Private employers who themselves can benefit from the green initiatives. This could include condominium and office buildings where green practices benefit the health and well-being of both workers and tenants. Again, win-win.
3. Any employer where there is a strong (sometimes 100%) tax credit for public transportation benefits. If there’s no or next to no cost, management isn’t likely to resist, especially if there’s additional social and political pressure from elected leaders.
And one other point: In the not-too-distant future, U.S. employers will have to grapple with the demands of comprehensive climate change legislation that will require them to reduce their carbon footprint. Whether they are a nursing home, a hospital or a private or public office building, they’re going to have a major challenge to address. SEIU will be ready to both protect our members in the face of these changes, and to help employers reach these goals for the benefit of all of us.
April 24th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
The experience of labor movements in other countries is worth considering here. In Europe unions are being very proactive in developing policies that can both drive a new green economy and create good quality union jobs. In Germany, the Alliance for Work and Environment is a national retrofitting program that has created or saved 140,000 union jobs in the skilled construction trades. The German government has invested several billion euros in the project. Other countries plan to replicate this effort, such as the Netherlands and Belgium.
In the global South, unions in South Africa, Brazil, and Indonesia are leading efforts to bring green practices to agriculture and forestry in an effort to create sustainable employment and limit emissions. For several decades fossil-based energy has been replacing labor, which is why one third of world’s working age population are either unemployed or underemployed (ILO figures). A task for unions in the 21st Century is to ensure gainful employment for all who need it, and the green economy has the potential to create many millions of jobs in the decades ahead. However, it will also require a major policy shift towards long term investments, much of it public, into infrastructure, green buildings, public transit, clean technologies, etc. In the US, this is being called a “Green New Deal”. During the first New Deal under FDR, union membership rose from 3 million in 1933 to 11 million in 1939. This was a “perfect storm” of organizing from below driving government action from above. Something similar can occur again, only this time around the need for social justice AND environmental protection.
SEIU is among a growing number of unions here and abroad that are taking leadership in pushing for a major transition to a sustainable society. As a movement we’re well placed to make a real contribution to a green future that gives power to workers both on the job and in society as a whole.